Author
Topic: Weather Balloon + GPS + Camera (Read 1485 times)

Hey guys i saw Admins weather balloon system and it really inspired me!

For my youth group i decided to show everyone my passion for robotics and electronics and came up with a simple rig, but i need help with the GPS system. I never used GPS before so i don't quite know where to start. I am funding this all on my own so i would like the cheapest but most effective route there is please. And i want to learn something while doing this so if there are tutorials on how to get everything working that would be great!

I have a Arduino and that's basically it along with some servers and what not. (The servo is going to be the mount for my camera for a 360 view) If any one has any idea or anything advice what so ever then please tell me!

If i need to buy another board or something that's fine to cause i will most likely use GPS again. PS: I would like to be able to use a map or something to retrieve the balloon afterwards! or if it just give coordinates that would be fine also since my grandpa has a hand held GPS tracker

I was thinking about using DroneCell to send me the information but does it need a internet connection? or just a sim card?

The issue with the Arduino is that it only has one UART port, and that's tied up with the USB. You can however use software UART's, and typically it's fine for GPS if you set your GPS as slow as possible (like 4800bps, the typical default for GPS anyway). But if you want the DroneCell and GPS at the same time using software UARTs, it really ties up your processor . . . it may or may not work, but it's worth a try.

I'm currently working on a huge space balloon tutorial, covering pretty much everything. It's about 50% complete, so I'll send you the link. Don't complain about broken links and typos, k?

As for GPS + DroneCell, it can be programmed using WebbotLib Project Designer so it's really easy.